


Tomorrow Might be Good for Something

by Branithar



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Adopted Children, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Assassins & Hitmen, Boxing, Character Tags To Be Added - Freeform, Childhood Trauma, Dad Ashton, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Luke and Michael are brothers, M/M, Organized Crime, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:01:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28025931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Branithar/pseuds/Branithar
Summary: Calum likes the punk kid at school, Michael Irwin, but the more they become friends the more he wonders if there's something up with his family, if they share a dark secret beyond just being kinda weird.
Relationships: Ashton Irwin/Awsten Knight, Michael Clifford/Calum Hood
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanna establish right now that there's not gonna be anything even slightly incesty between Ashton, Michael and Luke, so don't worry about things going in that direction. 
> 
> Title is from Unwell by Matchbox Twenty.

Michael sighed irritably, glaring at the clock on the wall. Even after a month of consistent school attendance, he didn’t seem to be getting any more used to the way time tended to drag in boring classes. 

“Twenty minutes,” Calum commented. 

“This is bullshit,” Michael replied. 

Calum looked at Mr Barnes, but luckily he hadn’t heard. Before Michael’s dad cracked down on his attendance, he would have just walked out of class the moment he felt bored, which was often. It was genuinely shocking that he was keeping up in class, given that he’d barely been there last year. 

Personally, Calum was grateful for Mr Irwin’s intervention. Actually spending time with Michael in class meant that they’d slowly become friends. Their teachers were worried about Michael being a bad influence on Calum, but so far the most he got in trouble for was talking to him in class. 

“You wanna go to HJ’s?” Michael asked a little loudly. 

“I’d love to,” Mr Barnes replied, giving Michael a pointed look before turning back to the whiteboard to explain the quote he’d written on it to the class. 

Michael rolled his eyes.

“Sure,” Calum said quietly. 

The nearest Hungry Jack’s was a twenty minute walk from school and thirty minutes from Calum’s house, the perfect detour for when he didn’t wanna go home right after school. As they walked, Calum wondered if Michael was putting off going home too. They made conversation about movies, Michael suggesting that Calum come over to watch Mission: Impossible since he hadn’t seen it since he was little. 

“Have you done the Maths homework?” Calum asked as they ate. 

Michael scoffed. “The deal was that I go to school, not do schoolwork at home.” 

Calum said nothing. He hoped Michael wasn’t that much of a smartass to his dad’s face. Calum’s would kill him if he tried something like that. He started having second thoughts about going over for a movie, but ultimately decided that he’d rather watch Michael get his ass beaten than go home. 

Calum didn’t know how far Michael lived from him yet, he’d never been over before today. He lived in a pretty normal-looking house with a sleek silver muscle car parked in front of the garage. 

As they approached the front door, Calum heard faint sounds of impact from the garage. They became louder when they got inside and he realised there was a sort of uneven rhythm to it. Four impacts, then a pause that varied in length, though sometimes there were fewer impacts before a pause. 

Noticing Calum’s curiosity, Michael explained. “We have a gym in the garage. Shouldn’t be too loud, though.” 

The entryway opened up to a combined kitchen, dining room and living area. Michael headed straight for the TV cupboard to look through the movies while Calum looked around. The door by the kitchen looked like it went to the garage and a sliding door in the dining area led to the back veranda. Calum guessed that the rest of the house was through the archway at the other end of the dining area. 

“Make yourself comfortable,” Michael invited as he turned on the TV. 

Calum didn’t know if he could do _comfortable,_ but he took a seat on the couch as Michael went to the kitchen to get a bag of chips. He started settling in when Michael offered him a chip from the bowl he’d brought them. 

“Tom Cruise is hot, huh?” Michael commented after a while. 

Calum glanced at him and gave a non-commital grunt. Leave it to Michael to say something like that. Even to people who didn’t know him, the eyeliner, piercings and bright red hair should have made it obvious that he didn’t really give a shit about acceptable behaviour. 

“Are you… _into_ him?” 

Michael scoffed. “I like dudes, yeah.” 

Calum nodded. “He _is_ kinda hot,” he eventually agreed. He didn’t want Michael to think he was weird about gay people. 

Just then, the kitchen door opened and Calum froze. Shit. 

A small kid from school, probably a year nine or something, walked in looking sweat and exhausted. He stared at Calum, seeming nervous about his unexpected presence, but Calum was more concerned with the man that followed him in. 

He was somewhat aged, in his forties by lines in his face and the maths Calum guessed with, since he was probably a relative of Michael’s. His outfit consisted of shorts that showed off curvy thighs and a black singlet that clung to his body, showing off everything. He was in really good shape. His hair was black, curls dangling around his hawk-like eyes and filling out his heart-shaped face. 

He ruffled the kid’s hair lightly. “Go shower, I’ll get lunch on.” There was a slight American twang in his accent, as if Calum needed to find the man any more intriguing. 

The kid scampered away, which unfortunately left the man to focus his attention on Calum and Michael as he filled a glass at the kitchen sink. 

“Haven’t seen you before,” he commented, “I’m Michael’s dad, Ashton.” 

“‘M Calum,” Calum replied weakly. He cleared his throat in embarrassment, pulling his eyes away from Mr Irwin’s pouty lower lip. 

“Calum.” Mr Irwin regarded him for a moment and Michael pulled his attention away from the movie to return the look. Mr Irwin grinned, showing dimples Calum hadn’t expected. “My boy behave himself in class?” 

“ _Ash,_ ” Michael groaned, flopping back against the couch in annoyance. 

Mr Irwin chuckled and finally turned away to rummage through the fridge. 

“Why do you call your dad by his name?” Calum whispered during a loud action sequence. 

Michael glanced at him. “He’s- Me and Luke are adopted.” He didn’t bother keeping his voice down and Calum cringed, throwing Mr Irwin a glance. 

“See the resemblance?” Mr Irwin joked as he put a capsicum on the island bench. 

“Sorry,” Calum mumbled to Michael. 

Michael shrugged. “It’s fine.” 

Calum felt _slightly_ less weird about finding his friend’s dad hot, but he would still rather die than admit it out loud. He focused on the movie and Michael’s commentary as much as he could while Mr Irwin cut vegetables in the kitchen, but couldn’t help the occasional glance. It wasn’t Calum’s fault that the man had fucking amazing arms. 

“Mikes,” Mr Irwin called after a while. 

Michael looked over at him. 

“Can you finish lunch?” he asked, holding up a flip phone.

“When are you gonna be back?” 

“I’ll let you know when I know,” he replied as he headed to the archway, “Don’t forget Luke’s peanut butter.” 

Michael sighed and stood. 

“You want help?” Calum volunteered, pausing the movie. 

“Sure. It’s just stir-fry.” 

The vegetables and tofu were already chopped, so Michael had Calum rinse the leafy greens in the sink while he put a wok on the stove and took out several bottles of various sauces. Mr Irwin reemerged as they were putting the veggies in, dressed in black jeans, a red button-up and a leather jacket, his shower-wet hair pushed back. Calum flinched when he walked straight at him and Michael, but all he did was pull Michael in for a quick, one-armed hug on the way out. 

“Don’t wait up. I love you.” 

“Love you too,” Michael replied easily before turning back to the stove. 

When Calum’s heart rate had slowed somewhat, he asked if Michael needed any more help. 

“Could you put some toast on? Bread’s in the fridge.” 

Once the stir-fry was done and Michael had spread peanut butter on the two slice of toast, he put all the knives in the sink and filled it partway. 

“ _Dinner!_ ” he yelled, making Calum flinch. 

The kid, Luke, slowly emerged from the hallway. 

“Why are you dressed like that?” Michael asked with a frown as he took the wok to the table. 

Luke shrugged, eyes flickering to Calum. 

“Calum’s not gonna care.”

“Care about what?” Calum couldn’t see anything wrong with how Luke was dressed; he was just wearing shorts and a red flannel. 

Michael shrugged. “Can you get the forks, Luke?” 

They set the table, Michael putting the plate of toast in front of Luke before serving Calum a helping. He was shockingly well-mannered, given his behaviour at school. 

“This is Calum, by the way.” 

Calum gave Luke a smile, but he kept his eyes on his plate. “Were you exercising with your dad earlier?” he tried. 

Luke nodded shyly. 

“Boxing,” Michael said, gesturing for Luke to serve himself next. 

Calum stared at Michael, wondering if that was just what they told people, if their “exercise” was closer to Mr Irwin taking his anger out on them. Michael didn’t seem scared of his adoptive father, though. Was that just part of his rebellious personality?

“Ashton wanted us to be able to protect ourselves, so he started teaching us when we were little,” Michael continued. He gave Luke’s hair a fond ruffle, Luke making an indignant noise in response. “Our little guy’s been getting strong recently,” he cooed in the kind of voice one might use when talking about a puppy. 

Luke pouted in annoyance for a moment before taking a bite from his peanut butter stir-fry toast as Michael snickered. 

“Where did your dad go?” Calum asked. 

“Work,” Michael replied, “He gets called in for emergencies sometimes.”

“What does he do?”

“He’s a mortician.” 

Calum frowned. “Morticians have emergencies?” 

Michael shrugged. 

When they finished eating, they took the dishes to the sink. 

“Do you wanna watch Mission: Impossible with me and Calum?” Michael asked Luke. 

Luke chewed his lip and glanced at Calum, eventually nodding. 

Michael gave his shoulder a pat. “Go wait for us.”

“Where are your knives?” Calum asked when they were washing up, holding up the one he’d just dried. 

Michael hurriedly lowered his hand, glancing at Luke on the couch. “That drawer.” 

Calum opened the drawer he’d pointed to, finding _all_ their knives sitting in dividers, including the dinner knives that Calum would have expected to belong with the normal cutlery. He put the knife in an empty spot and closed the drawer, wondering if it was appropriate to ask. Maybe it was to keep them safe from children, but there wasn't a lock and, as far as Calum knew, Michael didn't have any siblings aside from Luke. 

When they were done, Michael grabbed a bag of cheezels from the pantry and poured them into a new bowl and took it to the couch. Luke snuggled up to him as he sat and Calum took the seat on his other side. As they unpaused the movie, he found himself distracted by Luke, who kept pawing at Michael’s side, looking up at him urgently. 

“Later,” Michael hissed to him, “A few hours won’t kill me.” 

“A few hours?” Calum asked. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Michael replied, flicking Luke’s head. 

Luke grumbled irritably, but didn’t actually say anything the whole time Calum was there. Mr Irwin didn’t come home either, though Michael assured him that he was usually stuck at the morgue for hours at a time when he was called in. Calum didn’t have a lot of close friends, but as he walked home he started to wonder if the Irwins were kinda weird.


	2. Chapter 2

The first time Calum noticed Michael had been in year eleven, when he dyed his hair red. Before that, Calum assumed that he’d seen him around but he hadn’t yet been distinctive enough to stand out. After the hair, an eyebrow piercing and nose ring quickly followed, along with attempts to wear sleeved shirts and colourful tights under his uniform, though that inspired a few announcements that staff would be cracking down on uniform violations from then on, so it didn’t last. The eyeliner was pretty new, and it still sometimes made Calum feel nervous when Michael looked at him. 

Calum had never noticed Luke at all until he met him at the Irwins’ house. He was in year ten now, so they’d likely never crossed paths before. Calum waved at him when he saw him around now and sometimes Luke waved back, if a bit shyly. 

“You wanna come over?” Michael asked during English one day. 

“After school?”

He nodded. “I gotta train with Luke and Ashton right after, but we’ll be done by four thirty if you come around then.” 

“Can I just go there with you right away?”

“If you wanna watch us train for an hour,” Michael said with a shrug. 

Michael and Luke usually walked home together. Or rather, Michael walked and Luke skateboarded. Just like last time, Luke didn’t say a word to Calum, he only hummed in reply to his greeting. Calum wondered if that got on Mr Irwin’s nerves. 

“You gonna dress like a dumbass again?” Michael asked Luke. 

Luke frowned at him. 

“I told you Calum’s fine. I wear eyeliner every day and he doesn’t give a shit.” 

“You can wear makeup if you want,” Calum told Luke encouragingly. 

Luke looked at him, then Michael. 

Michael sighed. “Whatever.” 

The Irwins’ house was about a fifteen minute walk from school. Mr Irwin had people over when they got there, a man with a soft face and tired eyes and another with bleached white hair. Calum looked at Michael worriedly, but he seemed unsurprised, just greeting the men with a “‘Sup?” before heading to his room. 

Michael’s room was basically what Calum would have expected. Clothes were spilling out of drawers onto the floor, posters covered every square centimeter of wallspace and his bed was a mess of blankets and pillows. Michael fished some clothes out from around the room and took them to the bathroom to get changed, leaving Calum to look around a bit. There was an electric guitar in the corner that interested him; he hadn’t known that Michael played anything. 

When Michael came back in a T-shirt and shorts, telling Calum to just chuck his backpack anywhere, they went out to the living area. Calum hadn’t noticed coming in, but Mr Irwin was already wearing his workout gear and sweating. 

“Hey Calum,” he greeted with a smile, getting up from his place at the table, “This is Geoff, my personal trainer, and Awsten, my colleague,” he introduced, gesturing to the tired-looking brunet man and then the blond. 

Awsten scoffed. “Just your colleague, huh?” 

Mr Irwin pat his shoulder with a smile and led Calum and Michael to the garage. 

It really did look like a gym. There were weights on a rack, a boxing bag in the corner and those foam jigsaw mats covering the floor. Michael and Luke wrapped their hands as Calum took a seat on a bench next to some towels, then Mr Irwin put on some rhythm-heavy music, set a timer and had them skip for a few minutes to warm up. Calum guessed that he’d already warmed up enough with Geoff earlier. 

Watching was fine enough until they put away the ropes, put in mouthguards and strapped on headgear. While Mr Irwin put on pads with circular targets, Michael and Luke put on boxing gloves. 

“You’re on the bag, Luke,” Mr Irwin called, holding up the pads for Michael, “Jab, crosses. Go.”

Michael swung at the pads, hard. It hadn’t bothered Calum last time he came here, but now the sounds of the pads being hit set his teeth on edge and seeing Michael punch them made him grimace. Watching Luke wasn’t much better. Although he was much smaller than Michael, he still hit hard. 

Suddenly, Mr Irwin lunged at Michael, nearly hitting him in the head with the pad, but Michael dodged just in time. Calum fixed his eyes on the ground in front of him, blood rushing in his ears and heart thudding in his chest. 

“You okay, Cal?” 

Looking up, Calum realised that they’d stopped and were looking at him. “Yeah, I’m good.” 

Mr Irwin glanced at Michael and Luke for a moment. “You two, plank.” He took the pads off and came to the bench to grab a towel and wipe his face. “You need a glass of water?” 

Calum followed Mr Irwin into the kitchen, realising as he walked that he felt queasy. 

Mr Irwin filled a glass with water and gave it to him. “Not into boxing?”

“My dad likes it.” 

Mr Irwin was quiet as Calum drank. 

“Sorry I interrupted, Mister Irwin,” Calum mumbled. 

“Just Ashton’s fine. And don’t worry about it. Not everyone likes watching fights.” 

Calum felt Mr Irwin’s eyes on him as he finished the glass. 

“Do you wanna come back in or just wait out here?” 

“Um… I’ll wait out here,” Calum said apologetically. 

Mr Irwin nodded. “There are snacks in the pantry if you’re hungry.” He gave Calum a smile. “Geoff and Awsten can keep you company.” 

Calum glanced at the other men, who were indeed still sitting at the table. Geoff smiled and waved. 

“We’ll be done in about forty five,” Mr Irwin said as he went back to the garage, “But let me know if you need anything.” 

Calum took a seat at the table and idly fidgeted with his hands. 

“You known the Irwins long?” 

Calum looked up at Awsten and shook his head. “I know Michael from school, but I’ve only met Mr Irwin once. Twice, including today.” 

He gave a nod. “Interesting family.” 

“Yeah.” Calum didn’t know what he meant specifically, but he was glad that he wasn’t the only one who thought they were weird. “How long have _you_ known them?” 

“Oh, we go way back,” Awsten told him, “I’ve known Ashton since _I_ was in high school, way before he took those two under his wing.” 

Something occurred to Calum. “Is he married?” He hadn’t noticed any indication that a woman lived here and Michael had never mentioned an adoptive mother, only Mr Irwin. 

Awsten frowned. “No, why?” 

“He must’ve been when he adopted them, right? Isn’t that a requirement?” 

“Uh, it’s not really our place to talk about it,” Geoff said unsuredly. 

Calum nodded. “Right, yeah, sorry.” 

Maybe she died or something. Calum wondered if that was why Michael acted up in school, if it was how he expressed grief. 

Calum didn’t try making conversation with the men again until Michael and Luke emerged from the garage huffing and sweating. Like last time, Luke showered first while Mr Irwin started making lunch, but Calum went to wait with Michael in his room. 

“Is Luke deaf or something?” he asked as Michael attacked his hair with a towel. 

Michael looked up and frowned. “No, why?”

Calum shrugged. “He doesn’t talk much.”

“Not usually,” Michael said into the towel. 

“Doesn’t he get in trouble?” 

Michael thought for a moment. “Sometimes new teachers give him shit at the beginning of the year, but Ashton always sorts ‘em out quick.”

Calum frowned. “Doesn’t he get mad? That Luke won’t talk?” 

“He talks _sometimes,_ ” Michael explained, “He just prefers not to most of the time.” 

“Why not?” 

Michael shrugged. 

He showered next, then took over cooking when it was Mr Irwin’s turn. Today’s meal was a curry that Michael didn’t really need much help for, so Calum waited at the table with Geoff and Awsten again. 

“Are you a mortician too?” Calum asked Awsten. 

“Undertaker.” 

“I didn’t know undertakers bleached their hair.”

Awsten grinned. “Some do.” 

After lunch, Michael put on another movie. As he sat on the couch with Calum, Luke took his hand and examined the chipping nail polish. 

“You wanna paint them?” Michael asked. 

Luke nodded hopefully. 

“You mind, Calum? It smells pretty strong.” 

Calum shrugged. “It’s fine.”

Luke ran out, coming back a moment later with a bottle of black nail polish and a pillow. He put the pillow on Michael’s lap and had him lay his hands on it, then took one and started painting. As Michael idly gossiped about various people at school with Calum, Mr Irwin and the other men spoke in low voices. Maybe they were talking about work and thought the details of what they did shouldn’t be brought up around kids. 

By the end of the movie, Michael’s nails were all black again. Though Mr Irwin invited him to stay for dinner, Calum had to get home, so he got his backpack and headed out. 

Mr Irwin caught him on the way out. “You’re welcome here anytime,” he told him sincerely, “Don’t ever feel like you’re intruding.”

“Yeah, thanks Mr Irwin.” 

“Just Ashton’s fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> I run tran5rightsos on Tumblr! Feel free to send asks about this or any of my other 5sos fics!


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